Tools we #nplove

Tools we #nplove

We asked our Launchpad Fellows to tell us about a few of the tools and resources that they #nplove.

Ebony Harley, Chapter Resources Coordinator:

Ebony Harley, Chapter Resources CoordinatorWhen I began high school, my classmates and I were encouraged to use daily planners as a way to keep us organized as new high school students. Like little minions, we wrote down every assignment, practice exercise, and test date. Fast forward almost 10 years later, and that habit has stuck with me.

The perfect complements to any planner for a busy nonprofit professional are….(drumroll please)…colorful pens! I know. I’m a dork.

Just in case you think this post is made up – here’s a pic of my calendar and my new, cool, erasable pens.

Another that I’m loving is the YNPN Leaders Site…cliché I know, BUT I do. The Leaders’ Site was developed last year by the previous Chapter Support LaunchPad Fellow – Ashley Hartman. She did a fantastic job of organizing various documents and also managed to cultivate a space for chapters to share resources. On the site, chapter leaders have posted various presentations, chapter board documents, and even program documents – just to name a few.The site is pretty easy to navigate, but if you need a tutorial, Ashley has a short YouTube tutorial that will help you AND I’m also here if you have any questions or concerns! If you ever need some inspiration, the leaders’ site is a great first stop and it’s also where we’ll store Chapter Congress docs as well as resources from the Program XChanges! Oh…and if your chapter has documents that you’d like to archive on the Leaders site, please feel free to add them here.

Jessica Jesswein, Conference Coordinator:

Jess Jesswein, Conference Coordinator

Google Docs are perfect for anyone who is working remotely, or working with a group of people who are not always together. I love that you can edit the document at the same time as someone else, it continuously saves, and it's just easy to avoid sending attachments with emails all the time. Just link to the document, they can open and edit immediately! It tracks changes automatically which is also great.

The fact that I'm not searching for the latest version of a document has saved me so much time and energy.

Jamie Smith, Communications Coordinator:

Jamie Smith, Communications Coordinator

I use Canva almost daily to produce custom graphics for YNPN. You can't do as much with Canva as you can with Photoshop and InDesign, but it's a lifesaver for those of us without expert graphic design skills.

I'm late to the Buffer party, but it makes posting to social media so efficient. If someone would make a super tool that combines the posting efficiency of Buffer, the stream viewing setup of Hootsuite, and the reporting of Sprout Social, I would be in social media manager heaven.Lynda.com and Skillshare are where I go to learn new skills affordably. I love having so much knowledge at my fingertips. Right now I'm in the midst of an InDesign class. (Don't worry, Canva, I will always love you!)